Meditation on Gerard Manley Hopkins’ “Adoro Te” As Sung By a Choir in Rehearsal

Dappled Things

Sarah Buck

Dull notes ring from a
worn piano
in the basement, underground.
Among shadows
I hear light:
simple scales move
on my heart.
Listen to the tapping time
that takes us out of time.
I am here forever.
Cantering, chanting,
my voice is not mine,
it melts into the others,
into one,
lifting and softly setting,
and we know that
we are heard:
our prayers come from
where they go.

Sarah Buck is a convert living in Concord, NH. An alumna of Saint Anselm College, she also holds an MLIS from the University of South Florida.